A pivotal meeting on the future of Northern Tasmanian football has been snubbed by the state league's most successful club.
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North Launceston will not be attending what AFL Tasmania have termed a "workshop" with key Northern stakeholders on Wednesday.
The state body was planning to meet with representatives from North and Launceston, as well as the NTFA, to discuss football's future after the statewide competition ends in 2024.
However, Bombers president Thane Brady has declined the offer, sending AFL Tasmania an email seeking answers to 37 questions he says remain unanswered.
Brady accused AFL Tasmania of "pathetic", "dismissive" and "disrespectful" behaviour with an "unrealistic expectation" upon clubs to follow directions without question.
He said the workshop has a "myopic inevitability" about it.
![Launceston and North Launceston players contest for the ball on Saturday. Picture by Paul Scambler Launceston and North Launceston players contest for the ball on Saturday. Picture by Paul Scambler](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/8mt7fPj3AeZSAF4grZ2EUc/5a186f74-2b40-469e-a339-a199dea6d102.jpg/r346_10_4015_2927_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We reiterate our position of complete dissatisfaction with the process to date and stand absolutely against selling out our talented and committed footballers who deserve similar opportunities to every other state in Australia," he said.
"We decline the invitation to meet at this stage until (these) matters are addressed."
Head of AFL Tasmania Damian Gill said his preference would have been for North to attend the meeting but respects their position, adding: "We will work with North Launceston on their questions and their views".
He said Wednesday's meeting was "a starting point".
"We are genuine when we say we want to build a new premier community football model together with clubs and leagues and we need everyone at the table to help build something special," Gill said. "We know this will involve differences of opinion but that is healthy as we work towards a working model."
The decision to end the State League and revert to regional football underpinning the incoming VFL side in 2025 was announced in May and looks set to pit the Bombers and Blues against NTFA clubs.
Several of Brady's questions address this issue from a Northern standpoint, including: "How will a regional model rather than a TSL style talent model better serve our VFL/AFL programs?"
He added: "Your model places the two most advanced and best performing talent-focused football programs in Tasmania over the past decade into a community competition that was recently defeated by a North-West region representative team.
"There is no escaping the proposed regional model is a significant downward change for the two Northern TSL clubs who do not have the safety net of our Southern partners that have a nucleus starting point of five plus the inherent future advantage of feeding off the VFL and AFL programs."
With histories dating back to 1893 and 1875, Brady said North and Launceston have "foundations rooted deep in the community".
Since the TSL was reintroduced in 2009, players from both Northern clubs have graduated to AFL level as well as the VFL and SANFL while also flooding the NTFA with "an abundance of ready-made players and coaches unmatched by any other pathway".
Gill disagreed with Brady's assertion that a regional model would see Tasmania's pathway differ to other states.
He said: "Tasmania will have an end-to-end talent pathway equal to any in the country and it involves representation in a genuine talent competition in the VFL and VFLW.
"It is not entirely correct that each state has a talent league below VFL level, but it is correct that all other state leagues are greatly focused on one major metro population base, and this has contributed to some of the complexities in the historic TSL model.
"Our players leaving to the SANFL, VFL and other community football leagues interstate is not a success story it shows the shortcomings and incomplete pathways in our current model."
Gill said AFL Tasmania's goal was to create "three strong and vibrant football regions" and the state body have considered and looked at other organsations but "will also focus on what we see as best for Tasmania, our population, our geography and ultimately the health of our game".
"We have heard loud and clear from a majority of the football community that our football structure needs change, and we agree. It has not been working as well as it can and we think we can build something better that responds to our geography and builds up more clubs to be at a premier community standard.
"We also think we can seize the moment with the AFL Licence to build a model that supports greater participation with clear regional pathways for players, coaches, umpires, and volunteers."
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